By Rikhil Ranjit, Youth Advisory Council member.
The following reflects Rikhil’s lived experiences, thoughts, and opinions.
Severe weather, school shootings, pandemics. During times of crisis in a community, it’s students that sit at the epicenter of its impact: health risks, emotional blows, splintered routines. I remember during the COVID-19 pandemic, the accumulating ambiguities and questions about the future of attending school in person, places to access necessary care, immunizations, and so on. Cooped up at home, many of my friends could only internalize their anxiety, as they worried about where to access services and how to garner any form of support.
School-based health centers (SBHCs) are in a unique position, sitting where students already are and blending health and social services under one roof. By bridging this gap in public health systems, SBHCs can act as hubs for services, support, and tailored outreach to support communities during any level of disaster severity. Simply put, SBHCs increase access to health care more consistently and can also act as a preventative measure (Soleimanpour, 2010). I’ll discuss three specific examples below:
- Pandemic Response & Disease Prevention
I remember the COVID-19 pandemic being hectic. My family and I were confused on where to access our health services, where immunizations were administered, and what health information to believe. It was as if I had been placed in a complex maze with no sense of direction as to how to proceed. It’s in remembering these moments that I especially appreciate what SBHCs accomplished.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, SBHCs positioned themselves as anchors of health services. Despite pandemic-related school closures, vulnerable students and families were able to access the necessary primary care they required through SBHCs. Based on electronic health records across just twelve SBHCs, SBHCs had 52,530 encounters and maintained 4040 encounters per month (Gallardo et al., 2022).
Additionally, SBHCs are able to support the push for disease prevention by partnering with districts to act as remote vaccination clinics and accessibility points for infection-control mechanisms (i.e. masks, sanitizer, gloves, etc.). Considering information fluctuations during pandemic crises, SBHCs can also act as providers of accurate health information to ensure families are taking proper care of themselves.
- Mental Health Support During Trauma
Many of my friends find it difficult to reach out for support when they feel down. They’re worried about reaching out to and relying on friends, concerned about placing too much of a burden on them. They don’t think their parents will understand them enough. This leaves them all the more trapped in their own emotions.
This is just a microcosm of situations that can exacerbate a student’s mental health. During difficult times (school shootings, sudden deaths, community violence), SBHCs can integrate mental health services to become critical points for students to access counseling. While not entirely prevalent, there are efforts to expand such services through school-based mental health services (SBMHS). SBMHS interventions were measured across traditional meetings for mental illnesses, as well as different “disaster” crises that a student faced individually. Encouragingly, the research indicates that SBMHS were able to engage key stakeholders (i.e., police), minimize peer pressure, improve readiness during such crises, and is adaptable across varying situations (Richter et al., 2022).
Such services can also be provided via telehealth, such as regular check-ins with counselors and other remote mental health counseling.
- Seasonal Events
This month, icy winter storms have been ravaging across the East Coast. My parents have been bundled up at home, embarking on adventurous Google searches to find what they need to stay healthy. In such times, SBHCs are able to:
- Ensure students have access to their up-to-date medications
- Improve access to food, water, and other essentials prior to such storms
- Share practical preparedness information with families, involving the nature of the emergency, steps the family should take in their own household, and further details to remain safe
- Run clothing drives to ensure families stay warm
- Train school staff
The past several years have revealed just how central schools are to community stability. SBHCs must be the quiet anchor that can hold a community together when everything else feels uncertain.
Citations
Gallardo, M., Zepeda, A., Biely, C., Jackson, N., Puffer, M., Anton, P., & Dudovitz, R. (2022). School-Based Health Center Utilization During COVID-19 Pandemic-Related School Closures. The Journal of school health, 92(11), 1045–1050. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13226
Richter, A., Sjunnestrand, M., Romare Strandh, M., & Hasson, H. (2022). Implementing School-Based Mental Health Services: A Scoping Review of the Literature Summarizing the Factors That Affect Implementation. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(6), 3489. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063489
Soleimanpour S, Geierstanger SP, Kalley S, et al. (2010). The Role of School Health Centers in Health Care Access and Client Outcomes. American Journal of Public Health. 100(9): 1597-1603.